Incubator



1,635,901 July 2,19 1. ROLLER I I INCUBATbR Filed April 16. 1924Patented July 12, 1927.

UNITED STA TES' * 1,635,901 PATENT. OFFICE.

ALBERT OLLER, or WALDRON, ARKANSAS.

IN'CUBATOR.

Application filed April 16, 1924. Serial No. 706,937.

install may be depended upon to perform the operations required. In whatI now consider the most satisfactory embodiment of my invention, suchembodiment has a construc tion which will secure all of the objects oradvantages noted but this does not mean that I restrict myself to thatembodiment or to the presence in an incubator of all of the features ofconstruction appearing therein as hereinafter described. My inventionconsists in whatever is described by or is included within the terms orscope of the appended claims.

In the annexed drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an incubator embodying my invention,

Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view.

The incubator shown in the drawings has a box-like casing, 10, with ahinged door at the front to give access to the interiorthercof and whichis provided with the usual heating means such as a lamp and a damperthat includes a vertically swinging rod, 11, mounted on a post orsupport, 12, on the top of the casing, the damper rod,.11, rocking upand down in response to changesof tempcrature within the incubator and Imake use of such movement of the damper rod to gi'vean alarm when thetemperature rises above or falls below the temperature which itisdesired shall be maintained in the incubator so that attention may begiven to correct the condition which has resultediin objectionablechange of temperature; The

alarm which I consider most satisfactory'is an electric bell, 13, whichbesides other advantages may be conveniently located at any desiredpoint so that for example the incubator may be placed in the collar orbasement of the house and the bell located in the kitchen or dining roomor other place where its alarm will be heard at once. The bell is in anelectric circuit which includes a battery, 14, and two contact devicessituated on opposite sides of the pivotal support, 12, of the damperrod, 11, the circuit being closed by the damper rod through one contactdevice when the temperature rises and closed through the other contactdevice when the teml'ierature falls. The two contact devices are alikeeach comprising normallyseparated terminals, 15, ofcopperwire which areattached to the top of the casing byporcelain or other insi'llatingcleats, 160, the extremity of each terminal beneath the rod, 11, beingformed into a ring, 16, directly beneath the damper rod, 11, so as toassure contact of the terminals by the damper rod. By branched wires, 17both contacts useithe same battery, it, and the singlev bell, 13.

After the incubator has been heated to the proper temperature the copperterminals forming each contact device are adjusted which can readilybedone by bending. the wire sothat their coiled extremities, 16, will beat that position below the-damper rod, 11, as to be touched by. thedamper rod when that chan e of temperature in the incubator has takenplaceat which it is desired the alarm shall be given.

The eggsupport is inrthe form of a disk,

18, which may be made. of beaver board,

which is provided with holes, 19, eachof a size to contain andsupport anegg so that say about one-fourth of ther egg protrudes belowthe bottomof thedisk which being attached toca vertical shaft, 20, occupies avertical position. The shaft, 20, at its lower end within the casingrostsin a bearing, 21, i and is'supported at its upper endby a bearing,22, upon the top of the incubator casing and reaching above the top ofthe casing it .has fixed to it a bevel gear wheel, 23.

hflcshed with the beveled-gear, 23, is a pinion, 24, on a horizontalshaft, 25', which is connected at one end to aspring motor, 26,

wvhich conveniently and preferably is a clock, the driving connectionbetween the shaft, 25, and the clock being conveniently made by means ofthe winding key or stem, 27, of the clock, the endof the shaft and thestem" or key beingfastened together. Between the clock and the pinion,24, the shaft, 25, has a bearing, 28, mounted on the top of theincubator casing and such bearing and also the bearings of the verticalshaft, 20, arepreferably ball-bearings so as to reduce friction to theminimum. As the shaft, 25, through the clock connection described makesa revolution every six hours and the proportion ofthe pinion, 24, to thegear, 23, is such that the gear, 23, makes one revolution while thepinion makes five revolutions, the egg carrying disk, 18, will make onerevolution every thirty hours. Of course, I

do not limit myself to any one rate of revolution of the parts justmentioned.

The long axis of each egg receiving hole, 19, is radial to the shaft,20, with the smaller end of the hole innermost, the hole being egg shapeand the egg is placed in the hole with the smaller end toward thecentral shaft, 20. The portion of the egg projecting beneath the disk,18, is brought by the revolntion of the disk in contact with a frictiondevice, 25 in the form of a strip of wood covered with cloth that liesimmediately beneath the disk, 18, so that as the disk, 18, revolves thefrictional contact of each egg in succession with said friction devicewill partially rotate the egg on its longitudinal axis and with thegearing proportioned as has been above described each egg will bepartially rotated on its axis, preferably through a quarter turn, everyfifteen hours and, of course, during the intervals of contact with thefriction device, 29, will be quiescent or at rest as to rotation on itsaxis.

A convenient way of attaching the egg carrier, 18, to the shaft, 20, isto thread the shaft, 20, for a portion of its length to receive nuts,30, and washers, 31, above and below the carrier disk, 18, to clamp thedisk at the desired position. I show in the draw ings but one carrierdisk but obviously more than one could be applied to the same shaft,

The shaft, 20, is preferably mounted in its bearings so that it may belifted to raise the disk carrier, 18, which may be desirable to do torender more comfortable or easier getting access to the eggs or hatchingchickens.

Besides driving the egg carrier, 18, from the clock driven shaft, 25, Iutilize said shaft to control ventilation of the incubatorautomatically. This I do by providing on the shaft, 24, a radial arm orcrank, 82, which by the revolution of the shaft is brought in contactwith a projection, 33, on the upper side of a slide, 34:, placed inparallel guides, 35, upon the top of the casing over anopening, 36, inthe latter so that by movement of. the slide to and fro such opening maybe covered and uncovered and thus a ventilator device provided. Theslide, 34:, is yieldingly held in a-position to close the opening, 36,

by a spring, 37, attached atone end to a fixed point on the incubatortop and at the other end to the slide, and the crank or arm, 32, movesthe slide in opposition to the pull of the spring. Preferably theprojection, 33, which is engaged by the crank or arm, 32, is anantifriction roller. It will be seen that with regular periodicity atevery revolution of the shaft, 25, and during a portion of suchrevolution the engagement of the crank, 32, with the roller, 33, willslowly uncover the ventilating opening, 36, and in the case of the clockarrangement shown in the drawings such opening will take place slowlyduring thirty minutes.

The clock or spring motor may conveniently be fixed in position on thetop of the incubator casing by spring arms, 38, which clamp it uponopposite sides.

What I claim is:

1. An incubator comprising a casing, means within the casing forsupporting eggs with the peripheries thereof exposed and for rotatingthe eggs, comprising relatively stationary and rotatable members, avertical shaft supporting the rotatable member and extending through thecasing top and accessible for grasping by the hand for moving said shaftand the member carried thereby vertically, and means to rotate theshaft.

2. An incubator comprising a casing, a vertical shaft extending throughthe top of the casing and accessible for grasp by the hand to lift theshaft, an egg carrier upon said shaft, said shaft and carrier beingvertically movable and means to rotate the shaft.

8. An incubator comprising a casing, a vertical shaft, an egg carriermounted upon the shaft within the casing, a spring motor, a shaftreceiving motion from said motor mounted upon the top of the casing, agear connection between said shaft and'said vertical shaft, a movableventilator member mounted on the top of the casing over an openingtherein, a spring holding said member normally in closed position and acrank on the motor driven shaft that moves said member in opposition tothe spring.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

ALBERT OLLER.

